"Verse!" he replied, with tragic emphasis--"Verse which nobody reads--verse which nobody wants--verse which whenever it struggles into publication, my erudite friend here, Mr. Longford, batters into pulp with a sledge-hammer review of half-a-dozen lines in the heavier magazines. Verse, my dear Miss Vancourt!--verse written to please myself, though its results do not feed myself. But what matter! I am happy! This village of St. Rest, for example, has exercised a spell of enchantment over me. It has soothed my soul! So much so, that I have taken a cottage in a wood--how melodious that sounds!--at the modest rent of a pound a week. That much I can afford,--that much I will risk--and on the air, the water, the nuts, the berries, the fruits, the flowers, I will live like a primaeval man, and let the baser world go by!" He ran his fingers through his long hair. "It will be an experience! So new--so fresh!" Miss Tabitha sniffed sarcastically, and gave a short, hard laugh. "I hope you'll enjoy yourself!" she said tartly--"But you'll soon tire. I told you at once when you said you had decided to spend the summer in this neighbourhood that you'd regret it. You'll find it very dull." "Oh, I don't think he will!" murmured Maryllia graciously; "He will be writing poetry all the time, you see! Besides, with you and Sir Morton as neighbours, how CAN he feel dull? Won't you have some more tea?" "No, thank you!" and Miss Pippitt rose,--"Father, we must be going. You have not yet explained to Miss Vancourt the object of our visit." "True, true!" and Sir Morton got out of his chair with some difficulty--"Time flies fast in such fascinating company!" and he smiled beamingly--"We came, my dear lady, to ask you to dine with us on Thursday next at Badsworth Hall." No words could convey the pomposity which Sir Morton managed to infuse into this simple sentence. To dine at Badsworth was, or ought to be, according to his idea, the utmost height of human bliss and ambition. "We will invite some of our most distinguished neighbours to meet you,--there are a few of the old stock left--" this as if he were of the 'old stock' himself;--"I knew your father--poor fellow!--and of course I remember seeing you as a child, though you don't remember me--ha- ha!--but I shall be delighted to welcome you under my roof--"